Book resources

[doctorbj]

I am a very happy new owner of the Portable reader (Thanks to those who pointed out the VISA offer!).

However, after spending a great deal of time reading through these forums, I can't seem to find a basic discussion of commercial resources for Sony reader compatible books. So here are some questions:

1. It appears to me that the two available commercial resources are Sony Connect store and to some degree recently, Fictionwise. Are there others that offer 'native' formats?

2. Now it also appears that some conversion utilities, such as Book Designer, can take books in some other formats and convert to LRF, for Sony reading. Are there commercial resources that would sell books in convertible formats that are 'doable', and is it really easily 'doable'?

3. On the other hand Mobipocket is not able to be converted to Sony readable format because of Digital Rights issues?

4. For example, when I try to find a book such Michael Chabon' recent best seller The Yiddish Policeman's Union, it's not available (in fact not in any ebook format).

Please help me understand these issues, and correct me where I'm wrong.

I really do appreciate all the information many of you have provided, that has led me to buy this device!

Barry

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by doctorbj

I am a very happy new owner of the Portable reader (Thanks to those who pointed out the VISA offer!).

However, after spending a great deal of time reading through these forums, I can't seem to find a basic discussion of commercial resources for Sony reader compatible books. So here are some questions:

1. It appears to me that the two available commercial resources are Sony Connect store and to some degree recently, Fictionwise. Are there others that offer 'native' formats?

2. Now it also appears that some conversion utilities, such as Book Designer, can take books in some other formats and convert to LRF, for Sony reading. Are there commercial resources that would sell books in convertible formats that are 'doable', and is it really easily 'doable'?

3. On the other hand Mobipocket is not able to be converted to Sony readable format because of Digital Rights issues?

4. For example, when I try to find a book such Michael Chabon' recent best seller The Yiddish Policeman's Union, it's not available (in fact not in any ebook format).

Please help me understand these issues, and correct me where I'm wrong.

I really do appreciate all the information many of you have provided, that has led me to buy this device!

Barry

1. Just Sony Connect Store and Fictionwise.

2. If you purchase MS Reader (LIT) and use CLIT 1.8 you can break the DRM and use lit2lrf or Book Designer to convert. I've done both and it works fine. If you have the MobiPocket with DRM to HTML and then convert to LRF using html2lrf or Book Designer, that will work. But the MobiPocket DRM remover is only going to work if you own an iLiad since you need code to go with it that you can only legally get if you own an iLiad.

3. Not without stripping the DRM. See #2.

4. Not all books come out as an ebook or right away when the paper book does. So you have two choices. Purchase the paper edition or wait and see if the ebook comes out any time soon after. Then again, there is a chance it may never come out as an ebook.

[Nate the great]

My two favorite sources for free LRF ebooks are:

1. RIGHT HERE!
2. www.blackmask.com

There are others, but these are the best two.

As for commercial ebooks, many of us here buy MSReader LIT format because the conversion is very easy after you set it up the first time.

Download:
MSreader software
convertLIT http://www.convertlit.com/download.php
libprs500 http://libprs500.kovidgoyal.net/

Buy your first LIT format ebook. (You'll need Internet Explorer.)

[edited to comply with MobileRead standards on DRM removal.] RWood

[doctorbj]

Thank you both!
What do you recomment for breadth of selection and economy for LIT books?

Barry

[doctorbj]

Also, forgot to mention I have dual boot with Vista and XP. Is Vista now better able to handle the conversion process? I have downloaded the messages about the problems and possible solutions.

[Nate the great]

www.mslit.com

It will give you a list of the sites that sell each title. If you can't find it here then it likely isn't available.

As for sites, I recommend avoiding Fictionwise because their terms of sale suck. If you want to know more, PM me and I will explain.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by doctorbj

Also, forgot to mention I have dual boot with Vista and XP. Is Vista now better able to handle the conversion process? I have downloaded the messages about the problems and possible solutions.

So, when do you plan to delete Vista?

I would not do the conversions on Vista. It takes up much more system resources than XP. Also, the process I discussed above I know works nicely on XP. Vista, I don't know.


edit: I forgot to mention that it is possible to have multiple conversion going at the same time. I find 5 or 6 to be the most efficient.

[JSWolf]

BookOnBoard has good prices for DRM LIT which you can break the DRM and convert to LRF using lit2lrf or Book Designer.

[doctorbj]

Thanks again! I se see on Books on Board one option now is ereader. Is this the Sony ereader? If not which one would be the LIT format. Sorry to be such a dummy!

Barry

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by doctorbj

Thanks again! I se see on Books on Board one option now is ereader. Is this the Sony ereader? If not which one would be the LIT format. Sorry to be such a dummy!

Barry

NO! Those books are not for the Sony Reader. And it is not the eReader.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by doctorbj

Thanks again! I se see on Books on Board one option now is ereader. Is this the Sony ereader? If not which one would be the LIT format. Sorry to be such a dummy!

Barry

LIT format is the format used by MS Reader. You'll need a Windows machine and MS Reader. Then you go and authorize your MS Reader and use Internet Explorer to download these books. They download to My Documents\My Library

Download CLIT and use the keygen tool to generate the key and have a good breaking the DRM.

[prom king]

Originally Posted by doctorbj

4. For example, when I try to find a book such Michael Chabon' recent best seller The Yiddish Policeman's Union, it's not available (in fact not in any e-book format).

I have also been searching for this e-book has it been put available somewhere?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

www.mslit.com

It will give you a list of the sites that sell each title. If you can't find it here then it likely isn't available.

As for sites, I recommend avoiding Fictionwise because their terms of sale suck. If you want to know more, PM me and I will explain.

Please explain here, Nate; I'm sure that many people would be interested.

I highly recommend FictionWise; it's where I buy most of my eBooks and magazines, and their "Club" gives excellent discounts which very quickly repay the membership fee for it.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Please explain here, Nate; I'm sure that many people would be interested.

I highly recommend FictionWise; it's where I buy most of my eBooks and magazines, and their "Club" gives excellent discounts which very quickly repay the membership fee for it.

This is a topic I didn't want to bring up again, but okay.

When you buy something, you can assume under US laws that you own it; you did not license it. If you do not own it, then the transaction must reflect that fact. For instance, on the outside of every retail box for Windows is the statement that you are buying a license, not ownership of the copy.

When you buy an ebook from Webscriptions, BooksOnBoard, or Ereader, there are no conditions attached to the sale that indicates that you do not own the ebook file in the same way that you own a pbook. None of these sites have a "Terms of Service" agreement (that I could find). Thus when you buy an ebook from them, you own that copy of the ebook.

Finctionwise and Amazon also sell ebooks, but they claim that they license the ebook to you instead of sell it. I will discuss them separately.

When you buy something from Amazon, you can use the exact same "One Click" process to buy a pbook, an article of clothing, home electronics, as well as a Kindle Edition ebook. There is no way to tell that you are not actually buying a copy of the Kindle Edition ebook. Instead, they claim in the ToS that they license it to you. There were a couple US Supreme Court cases in the early 20th century about this: one involved a patented industrial solution, the other a paper book. In both cases the IP holder claimed that the item was licensed not sold. The Supreme Court disagreed.

Fictionwise, on the other hand, has a slightly better legal position. While they also refer to the transaction as an "ebook purchase", they have on the transaction page a link to their ToS and a statement that the Tos applies to the transaction. The presence of the statement and link puts Fictionwise in a very good position should they ever go to court.The statement is in effect a condition of the sale.

But on the other hand, they do imply that they they sell you the ebook. A judge might decide that a sale is a sale, and that the ToS conditions don't apply. But then again, I am not a lawyer.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Finctionwise and Amazon also sell ebooks, but they claim that they license the ebook to you instead of sell it. I will discuss them separately.

OK, I accept what you say, but why should I care? The terms of service don't say anything that I have any objection to. What part of them don't you like?